STORE

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

XANDE RIBEIRO: "I WILL GET WHAT IS MINE."

Although submission grappling is definitely part of MMA, the two are different sports. While athletes often do well in one arena, often their skills do not translate to the other. Over the years, we have seen many black belts and champion wrestlers fizzle in MMA or the MMA champion lose at Abu Dhabi or similar competition.

Xande Ribeiro is a man, however, who has excelled in both sports. Although he has only two fights in MMA, he’s emerged victorious in both, and he is also one incredible grappler (with multiple World Jiu Jitsu and ADCC titles). Known as one of the biggest names in Jiu Jitsu, it seems Xande will focus his training solely on the submission game this upcoming year.

In a recent interview with Tatame, Xande talks about how 2010 for him was characterized by a lack of focus and unfortunate circumstances resulting an MMA fight deal that fell through. This year he plans on training solely for both gi and no-gi jiu jitsu (and submission grappling) competitions, namely ADCC and Worlds.

Check out the full interview here (note: use a translator, be Brazilian, or start learning Portuguese, because the interview is not in English).